The clockwork minds the pit, the curse, and the shadow (GDCN)

Kestrel's archmage berserker dug a pit at the far mouth of a warp,
then tried to walk through that mouth seven times: each stride landed
on its own pit with a thornbush beyond, the maze bounced it back and
charged the stride, and on the seventh it rolled the 1 and fell in.
Cursed with SLOW DEATH at seven life, it kept drawing two cards a
turn at a point apiece, raised a SHADOW that drinks a point a turn,
and bled to death in three turns.

The path search now refuses a pit it cannot leap beyond — the same
test the maze applies — whether the pit is a waypoint or the goal.
Under SLOW DEATH the end-of-turn draw keeps four life in hand and
draws nothing when it cannot; while bleeding, or at six life or less,
no SHADOW is raised. Three tests pin them.

The chronicle tells the bounce as what it was: "leaps the pit —
nothing to land on beyond it — and teeters back", not a blind blunder
into a wall; and the shadow's last drink no longer trails a zero-damage
line. Brain and chronicle changes only, ungated; 83 ledgers replay.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Jm2auWk6RP71CjaAb4FMoG

packages/web/src/net.svelte.ts

@@ -51,6 +51,9 @@ export function humanize(e: GameEvent): string | null {
       if (e.fullyStopped) return `The attack is completely stopped.`;
       return null; // the damaged event tells the story
     case "damaged": {
+      // The shadow's last drink is told by its own line; the bookkeeping
+      // blow that follows it has nothing to add.
+      if (e.amount === 0 && e.source === "shadow upkeep") return null;
       const soak = e.soaks?.map((s) => `${s.what} soaks ${s.amount}`).join(", ");
       return `${e.player} takes ${e.amount} damage (${e.source}${soak ? ` — ${soak}` : ""}) — ${e.lifeAfter} life left.`;
     }
@@ -126,7 +129,9 @@ export function humanize(e: GameEvent): string | null {
     case "cardDisplayed": return `${e.player} displays ${cardDef(e.card.cardId).name}.`;
     case "lifeTraded": return `${e.player} burns ${e.points} life for speed!`;
     case "castAroundCorner": return `The spell bends around the corner!`;
-    case "moveBumped": return `${e.player} blunders into a wall!`;
+    case "moveBumped": return e.why === "pit"
+      ? `${e.player} leaps the pit — nothing to land on beyond it — and teeters back.`
+      : `${e.player} blunders into a wall!`;
     case "attackMisdirected": return e.newTarget
       ? `${e.attacker}'s blind attack veers off — and hits ${e.newTarget}!`
       : `${e.attacker}'s blind attack flies off into the darkness.`;